Another exquisite double rainbow photographed in Wyoming

While on vacation on July 18, Texas native Jonathan Boening took this photograph of a double rainbow on a drive to Yellowstone National Park.
(Jonathan Boening)

Perhaps Wyoming should brand itself as the land of double rainbows.

On July 18, Texas native Jonathan Boening took this breathtaking photograph of a double rainbow while on vacation, driving toward Yellowstone National Park. "A fast-moving storm had just blown through the area," he told OurAmazingPlanet. "I was so utterly stunned when I saw it. I've never seen a full rainbow, much less two of them."

The sighting occurred on his way from Cheyenne to Jackson, Wyo. When he jumped out of the car to take a photograph of it, a powerful gust of wind from the storm caught the door and almost completely ripped it off, Boening said. "It wouldn't close after the incident, so I literally had to physically hold the car door closed all the way to Jackson!" he said. "It was worth it."

To see a rainbow, you need two elements: sunlight and raindrops. When sunlight passes through a prism — in this case, drops of water — some of the light is refracted, or bent, more than other portions. Light leaving the prism then spreads out into a continuous band of colors called a spectrum, which appears as a rainbow.

As in this case, sometimes a secondary bow forms outside the primary one, giving the look of a double rainbow. The second bow is always fainter and usually disappears more quickly than the primary.